So you mean to tell me that when we have numerous advances in combat medicine we have more casualties than fatalities? And that when you use the military as a police force for another country that it tends to demoralize the people that signed up to defend the US constitution? I'll be damned....

queezyweezel:So you mean to tell me that when we have numerous advances in combat medicine we have more casualties than fatalities? And that when you use the military as a police force for another country that it tends to demoralize the people that signed up to defend the US constitution? I'll be damned....

/hope we can get our men and women home soon

Apparently those in charge are achieving their goals, otherwise, they'd quit.

Indeed it does. Yet I'm still waiting for the public to catch on to the fact that suicides are up due (in large part) to the increased rotation of personnel through war zones. Yes, battlefield medicine is an enormous contributor to this metric, as it is also a great service to medicine in general. But such statements tend, on the surface, to discount the other harsh realities of our current system.

But the public won't catch on....until we bring back the draft and make wars a matter of nation-wide responsibility.

On 9-11, I made just one prediction. That Rush Limbaugh would find a way to blame 9-11 on Bill Clinton. On cue I heard Rush Limbaugh spouting "9-11 is Bill Clinton's fault. Bill Clinton emasculated the military!!!". Well it was getting into Iraq so that Baby Bush could whatever his father that has emasculated our military. And Afghanistan isn't helping.

doyner:Yet I'm still waiting for the public to catch on to the fact that suicides are up due (in large part) to the increased rotation of personnel through war zones.

I would say it's not just being rotated through a war-zone, but being pulled away from their regular lives for a year at a time, multiple times over the span of a few years. It really makes actually living your life very difficult or even impossible for some. Being pulled away from you wife, girlfriend, work, school, friends, etc and being stuck in Afghanistan while everyone at home keeps living is very jarring. Missing the births of kids, older children being distant to you for being gone so much. Wife and girlfriends cheating and finding other people. Finding it much harder to pursue a real career type job or complete a degree in a reasonable amount of time. Deploying multiple times just farks your whole life up for pretty much the whole span you're in the military. You really just gotta be willing to put your life on hold and try to pick it back up again when you're all done. Some people can handle it. Some cant'.

I would be willing to be real money that most (75%+) of those suicides involved some form of spousal (wife/husband, girlfriend/boyfriend) difficulties at home.

It's not just the combat that gets to you. It's knowing that you have nothing to come home to that really tears the rug out from under your life.

Suicides have been pretty bad for some years now, both with the active troops and even the veterans after they get out. For some reason this issue get little attention, yet things like sexual assaults make headline news.

I'm wondering how many of these are actually relationship related. Heard stories about woman marries young military guy for benefits, guy gets sent oversees, woman cheats or relationship falls apart because of time and distance away, guy tries to off himself or comes back batshiat crazy with guns.

Soldiering is a gang of people killing armed and unarmed people. Indisputable. Unacceptable. How much self respect can you have when you are part of a murderous gang? Warriors and police do not act by virtue of bravery but act with the knowledge of being aided by the strength of their group. There is no bravery in a gang. I have no respect for them . Cowardice is the word I use to describe this behavior. Notice this fact : People never fight one on one without an audience. (unless they are drunk)

albertalaska:Soldiering is a gang of people killing armed and unarmed people. Indisputable. Unacceptable. How much self respect can you have when you are part of a murderous gang? Warriors and police do not act by virtue of bravery but act with the knowledge of being aided by the strength of their group. There is no bravery in a gang. I have no respect for them . Cowardice is the word I use to describe this behavior. Notice this fact : People never fight one on one without an audience. (unless they are drunk)

Wars cause the rates for violence, crime, and abuse to increase. It wouldn't be surprising to see suicide and a number of other bad things on that list....But the military has to go to war, that is its primary purpose. Most wars are political, chosen by Congress.

Seems to me the politicians are on the hook for this one.Soldiers need more support after the state is done chewing them up and spitting them out. Congress controls the purse strings.

way south:Wars cause the rates for violence, crime, and abuse to increase. It wouldn't be surprising to see suicide and a number of other bad things on that list....But the military has to go to war, that is its primary purpose. Most wars are political, chosen by Congress.

Seems to me the politicians are on the hook for this one.Soldiers need more support after the state is done chewing them up and spitting them out. Congress controls the purse strings.

The "boys in suits" (all sides, left and right, friend and enemy) are too busy with their own comfortable and incredibly luxurious lifestyles to even imagine how much pain their greed. stubbornness and penile insecurities inflict upon the people they are supposedly "serving" (serving? what a farkin' JOKE) yet we blindly honor these people and treat them like they are farkin' deities.

taurusowner:albertalaska: Soldiering is a gang of people killing armed and unarmed people. Indisputable. Unacceptable. How much self respect can you have when you are part of a murderous gang? Warriors and police do not act by virtue of bravery but act with the knowledge of being aided by the strength of their group. There is no bravery in a gang. I have no respect for them . Cowardice is the word I use to describe this behavior. Notice this fact : People never fight one on one without an audience. (unless they are drunk)

Too obvious. 2/10

Too clueless. -3/10

Soldiers are hired killers. This is fact. Some of us accept this. Some don't.

It doesn't mean they aren't sometimes necessary, but pretending they are more than murderers does everybody an injustice, and is probably related to the increase in suicides. When you tell people they are heroes and then order them to act like villains, you get a disconnect.

bakarocket:taurusowner: albertalaska: Soldiering is a gang of people killing armed and unarmed people. Indisputable. Unacceptable. How much self respect can you have when you are part of a murderous gang? Warriors and police do not act by virtue of bravery but act with the knowledge of being aided by the strength of their group. There is no bravery in a gang. I have no respect for them . Cowardice is the word I use to describe this behavior. Notice this fact : People never fight one on one without an audience. (unless they are drunk)

Too obvious. 2/10

Too clueless. -3/10

Soldiers are hired killers. This is fact. Some of us accept this. Some don't.

It doesn't mean they aren't sometimes necessary, but pretending they are more than murderers does everybody an injustice, and is probably related to the increase in suicides. When you tell people they are heroes and then order them to act like villains, you get a disconnect.

Oh, look, it's a baby troll. How adorable! Don't scare it, and somebody get a towel to wipe the drool off its bib.

If you think offing yourself will help society at large, or yourself, or whatever, be my guest. I don't care if you're service or not, you're obviouslya chicken shiat who can't handle life. Bye bye, don't care.

way south: Wars cause the rates for violence, crime, and abuse to increase. It wouldn't be surprising to see suicide and a number of other bad things on that list....But the military has to go to war, that is its primary purpose. Most wars are political, chosen by Congress.

Seems to me the politicians are on the hook for this one.Soldiers need more support after the state is done chewing them up and spitting them out. Congress controls the purse strings.

I'm sorry, but no.

Enough is enough.

There is a myth in the USA that somehow US soldiers are not looked after. In a small number of cases, this is true--I wholehartedly support the notion that soldiers should get complete medical and psychological assistance needed to 'make them whole' to the extent possible after time spent in harm's way.

However, the general idea that in the USA soldiers are somehow 'forgotten' or underfunded is absolute and total nonsense. What we have forgotten is that soldiers are a diverse bunch, and like every diverse bunch there are bound to be all manner of situations and people. Enlisted personnel in particular often come from difficult circumstances and, frankly, low educational achievement coming in, and then we somehow expect that they're entitled to $80,000 middle management jobs when they come out. Bollocks.

it has been estimated that the total compensation of even the lowliest US soldier is now in excess of $100,00 per year equivalent when you consider

the idea that we need to "spend more money" on soldiers is laughable. our soliders in WW2 accomplished far more for far, far less. They also didn't expect a few enlisted years to mean that they are entitled to live on those laurels for the rest of their lives. want proof? have a look at the LIFETIME medical benefits now offered to some 18 year old who goes to afghanistan, serves for two years total, and never leaves the base (and, as one who has been to afghanistan, let me be the first to say that for a certain percentage of people, that is not that uncommon). Such a person may well end up consuming several million dollars of benefit over their lifetime, but if you dare point out this obvius staggering inefficiency, you Hate America and are Worse Than Hitler.

(be sure to ask me also about the sham that is the 9/11 compensation fund, especially "9/11 syndrome")

it's easy to blame congress and "anonymous suits." it's easy to demand "more money" as if the fact that we spend in inflation-adjusted terms far more now on individual soldiers than any other arms ever has in the history of the world. it's harder to look at what's really going on and make hard choices.

Before you flame me, have a viewing of the recent "Music of War" movie about soldiers in iraq. Look at them and you'll come to realize that these are very ordinary people who both as a matter of pragmatism (they needed a job) and patriotism (in some cases) answered the country's call. They serve honorably, but it's a bit much to expect them to come out of there in some idealized way that a lot of you expect them to.

Yes, suicides are a problem Access to physical and mental health resources is a must. But, those are already quite widespread--more than the knee jerk commenters here might suspect. But the answer is not just "let's just have another BS litmus test of Real Americannness (tm) based on whether you support throwing an unlimited number of resources towards a ridiculously overglorified and unrealistic caricature of the American soldier."

drayno76:If you think offing yourself will help society at large, or yourself, or whatever, be my guest. I don't care if you're service or not, you're obviouslya chicken shiat who can't handle life. Bye bye, don't care.

Well, yes. Baby Bush's feelings were hurt by people saying he wasn't a real man because Poppy(get well SOON) got him into the national guard instead of fighting in Vietnam so he made sure to prove that the National Guard makes BIG SACRIFICES.

As I understand it, it's due to the military having to accept people with mental issues in order to meet their recruitment quotas. Same reason we have so many homeless vets on the street- recruitment of people who were likely to become homeless without the military,

WhyteRaven74:Bomb Head Mohammed: the idea that we need to "spend more money" on soldiers is laughable

Tell that to a veteran who has no place to live.

Seriously, there are a boatload of programs in place for those people. But, if they're homeless, they likely have severe mental problems, which of course does make it hard for them to comprehend that the help is there, and/or hard to apply even if they understand that they can.